Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt

One of these days, Lauren Baratz-Logsted is going to have to get a blog of her own, what with all the guest appearances she does at everybody else’s (not to mention the attention lavished on her by the Emerging Writers Network today). These days, she’s dropping in regularly at Michelle Richmond’s place; this time around, she’s looking at the books she’s liked recently, including Kermit Roosevelt’s In the Shadow of the Law, a book that’s been in a pile right next to my bookcase ever since Alan Dershowitz loved the book, but got a bug up his butt about its use of “SAT words”–then went on to suggest he was indirectly responsible for some of Roosevelt’s best bits. Well, with everything that keeps coming through here, I still haven’t managed to get around to actually reading the book yet, but Lauren’s tip certainly brings it back to the front of my mind…

17 August 2005 | uncategorized |

How Much Pull Have You Got?

As reported in yesterday’s Publishers Lunch, Seth Godin is selling the galleys of his* upcoming book, The Big Moo:

“The galley is the very expensive pre-publication not-quite-paperback version of a hardcover book. The galley is created to give reviewers a chance to read the book before everyone else. I persuaded my publisher to print 10,000 galleys, a huge number. And we’re selling them at cost. Here’s the catch:…I only want to sell the 50 pack of galleys ($2 a copy) to people who will turn around and give galleys to people in organizations with the will and the ability to pre-order a hundred or more copies of the final hardcover.”

Of course, business is one of the few categories, if not the only one, in which such a model could conceivably have the desired effect. (Self-help or health, maybe, but it would have to be a hell of a book…) Still, if it works out, that just means more money for the charities that will be receiving 100% of the author royalties on Big Moo sales. Charities that seek to improve children’s lives by building schools, creating sustainable housing, and fighting diabetes. Now, I freely admit that my sphere of influence is essentially limited to struggling writers and underpaid publishing industry professionals, but if you’re reading this and you happen to have the juice to make it work, why not give it a whirl?

*…and 32 coauthors who include just about every big name in business book publishing, collectively called “The Group of 33.”

16 August 2005 | uncategorized |